Minnesota Sports Forum

GymRat wrote:

alexftbl8181 wrote:

GymRat wrote:

alexftbl8181 wrote:What's funny is that this is pretty much the EXACT same type of deal Khan gave Brandon Roy a couple years back.. Except everybody gave Khan shit for it, and everybody loves this because it's KG and Flip.

IT'S THE EXACT SAME SITUATION!

Except I'm fairly certain KG wasn't actually injured enough to sit out last year, and it was mostly a ruse. KG can still play the game even when he loses some of his athleticism. Roy was useless in every facet. Couldn't shoot, play defense, run, or jump. The only positive in the Roy deal other than the injury out was making Portland have to pay him his salary instead of insurance haha.

ugh we have to talk yourselves into conspiracy theories in order to convince you that it's a good deal. you've been brainwashed

I'm not saying it's a good deal, but it's certainly more valuable than the Roy deal you're referencing. I would have preferred we sign KG for 1-2 years at 3-5MM per. That would be more reasonable given the amount of time he'll actually see the floor, but by signing him for more it does absolutely nothing to our salary cap situation this year or next.

How does it not affect our cap situation next year?

There is no downside to this.

It leaves a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth. Duncan just signed for 2-years at $10M and he is still a full-time player (or almost is) that plays a more prominent role for his squad than KG will for Minnesota.

In fact, the whole KG affair leaves a bad taste. They did the whole "feel good" return last year to juice ticket sales, then quickly shelved him with an "injury". After that, he wasn't seen or heard from much. Where was his mentoring and cheerleading as Payne, Dieng, and Hamilton were getting beaten to bits night in and night out with horrific defense?

I'm not opposed to KG re-joining the Wolves. I would have been perfectly fine bringing him back this offseason and signing him to a much more reasonable deal, with a team option for the second year and an implied path to the front office.

I get it....It's not going to ruin our long-term cap situation. But I'm not real thrilled with the whole process.

TheSP wrote:

alexftbl8181 wrote:What's funny is that this is pretty much the EXACT same type of deal Khan gave Brandon Roy a couple years back.. Except everybody gave Khan shit for it, and everybody loves this because it's KG and Flip.

IT'S THE EXACT SAME SITUATION!

Exactly the same, except there isn't even a rumor that KG's season ending "injury" is career threatening nor did it require him to sit out a season. So yeah, it's EXACTLY the same, figuratively speaking.

It isn't? He's 40 and played 20 seasons. Guys been talking about retiring for the past 3 years now, is his career not threatened?

Financially this doesn't hamstring the Twolves, so I wouldn't get all up in a tizzy about the exact figures. Supposedly there's an injury route to an early front office position in the contract as well.

With the cap going up to a projected 89MM next season, if the Wolves denounce the rights to Budinger and Brown, that removes 10.7MM off the books. I do not expect the Wolves to keep Bennett, and that could free up another 7.3MM. The Wolves stand to have anywhere from 20-35+MM in cap space should they perform the previous 3 releases, adjust a few mil for Bjelica's official numbers, and KG decides to forego his option to free up cap space. At a minimum you're looking at the Wolves being able to offer a max contract to pretty much anyone.

We will have plenty of financial flexibility at a time when it's most valuable. But I also don't think Flip is looking to add another max contract to the team if it isn't ready to take that leap competitively. It might be another 2 seasons before we take that dip, in which case 8 MM each of the next 2 years on Garnett does nothing.

I'm sure the same people who says that who cares that it doesn't affect our cap anyway are the same ones who freaked out because heaven forbid Thad Young would opt into his deal at 9 million so we had to dump him at all costs

Personally I love the feel good story of our greatest player ever returning to close out his career regardless of the price. It's Glen's money to spend and a few million is chump change. Thad Young did nothing for this team long term except take playing time from building block players.

alexftbl8181 wrote:I'm sure the same people who says that who cares that it doesn't affect our cap anyway are the same ones who freaked out because heaven forbid Thad Young would opt into his deal at 9 million so we had to dump him at all costs

I can't speak for others, but I'll cop to being one of those who says "who cares" and was also concerned about Thad Young opting in at close to $10 million per. So you're right, at least about me. But I'm not sure what your point is. I think you're suggesting that Young had as positive an impact on the Wolves as KG does, and so we should be equally worried about the size of their contracts, but I think that's a false narrative. KG only played 5 games for us last year, but I was at 2 of them, and they were 2 of the best played games we played all year. KG made us better, and I didn't think that Thad Young did. It's that simple.

I also think KG's "knee injury" last year was about as serious as the "knee tendonitis" he suffered at the end of the most famous Wolves tanking season...the one that allowed Madsen to become a 3-point sniper. In other words, not at all serious.

I'll give you credit for being the first to nail the size of KG's contract, and I concur with others that I would have liked KG to give something back to the team in the form of a home-town discount a la Duncan. But at the end of the day, it's not my money and doesn't appear to hamstring us in terms of the cap...so any worrying about this 2-year contract is unnecessary.

I am convinced KG is the difference between making the playoffs and not making the playoffs this year. And not just because of his on-court production. His ability to bring out the competitive passion necessary to contend for a championship cannot be measured in dollars, and is something so few teams are fortunate to have.

The basketball gods have been smiling on Minnesota ever since Flip returned. Even the things that don't seem to go our way are turning out as blessings in disguise. These next few years are going to be very enjoyable!

60WinTim wrote:I am convinced KG is the difference between making the playoffs and not making the playoffs this year. And not just because of his on-court production. His ability to bring out the competitive passion necessary to contend for a championship cannot be measured in dollars, and is something so few teams are fortunate to have.

The basketball gods have been smiling on Minnesota ever since Flip returned. Even the things that don't seem to go our way are turning out as blessings in disguise. These next few years are going to be very enjoyable!

Tim, for your sake and your unwavering optimism all these years, I feel like you deserve this more than most. I hope you're right.

(same thing for my Dad, who has been a season ticket holder since nearly Day One).